Chapter 1: What were the expectations going into the Norwich vs. Pompey match?
Norwich won, Pompey won. And we'd have taken that, wouldn't we, through the 10, 12 days leading up to this game. We would have taken that. We would have bit their arm off anybody who'd said, would you like a point at Norwich? We'd have said, yep, absolutely. And we kind of earned it, although I think they kind of threw three points away at the halfway stage, didn't you?
If you were watching it, if you were able to watch it... they came out for the second half as if they were, I know it's an overused phrase, on the beach. They were just not at the races. And we were, because we had somebody to play for. They didn't. That's the difference, I think.
I think Norwich are pushing their luck if they're saying to themselves that they might make the playoffs, that they could go up into the Premier League. I think their manager knows that he wants another season in the championship to solidify things. He looks like a good manager, doesn't he? He looks meaningful and he's been working wonders at Norwich, frankly.
They are the best team in the championship this calendar year. And we went there and we got a point.
Chapter 2: How did Norwich perform in the first half against Pompey?
And in the second half, we deserved it. We didn't deserve it in the first half quite. They weren't that much better than us, although they certainly had some stylishness about them that we tend not to produce in the final third of the pitch. And I think Moon and Whittingham alluded to that a couple of times. We don't actually manage to look as though we have a cutting edge in the final third of
compared to some teams such as Norwich. However, the final score is the final score. It's 1-1. It's a funny old game, as football always is, in so many ways. You know, it started with the referees' walkie-talkie? Well, communication system technology not working. So it ticked round to three o'clock. And he had to run off and get some new batteries for his kit.
Do I not check it before they go out that it's working? You would have thought, but maybe they did and it was, but when they got out there, it wasn't. I don't know. But it meant that we were running three minutes behind all the other games. And all the other games, actually, to a large extent, is what it was all about.
Because we were constantly worrying about what Oxford were doing and what Leicester were doing, West Brom and Blackburn. Hang on, just have a sip of something. I'm just going to step outside and... Oi! There we go. And, yeah, we were worried about the other results.
So everyone there, I think the Pompey fans at Norwich, well done to them, of course, and quite a few people as well at home, had their phones going to see what was going on elsewhere because... To a certain extent, in a relegation battle, you're at the hands of those who are around you as much as yourself. Hang on, a quick sip of Peroni, forgive.
So they looked a little bit more polished than us during the first half. We were committed because we always are, but again the 50-50s were falling to them.
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Chapter 3: What changes occurred in the second half of the match?
I looked at a stat at the end of the game that said that Pompey had 19 interceptions and Norwich had two. But I found myself wondering, how do you quantify an interception? You know, if the ball, if two guys go up for a header and it could go anywhere and one of their players picks it up, is that an interception? What is an interception?
Sometimes these stats leave you knowing less than you knew before you found out what the stats were. But anyway. We didn't match them in the first half. Their goal, a lot of people will say that we defended really badly, but Norwich worked it pretty well, I thought. And it wasn't a bad clearance by Jojo. It was just he got his foot in the way because he had to.
The ball was coming across the goal. He had to stick his foot out. He stuck his foot out. It hit him on the shin. And it could have gone anywhere, but it went to a Norwich player and boom. So we went in at half-time, 1-0 down. Even at half-time, it was clear to those that know their football that Pompey's man of the match was Colby Bishop. He did not lose one single long ball.
Every single long ball that was played up to him, he won. He got the first touch on it. How does he do this? The unfortunate thing, of course, is that there was nobody on the end of it to, well, a couple of times there were players on the end of it who could pick up. But generally speaking, he's winning the headers. Sometimes he's chesting it down.
Sometimes he's even pushing them back so far he can take it to feet. That happened, OK, only once. But we had a long ball to Colby Bishop. He shoved their centre half back out of it. And he took it to feet. At that, the guy's a genius. He's not knocking them in. And we'll come on to the shortcomings of the short ball in from our wingers in a moment. Because don't you think... I won't do it now.
Don't you think that... It's becoming so obvious that Mili Ali has been told that Colby likes it flush with the deck and so that he can side foot it. That's what he likes. And so that's what he's doing. But they know that too. And so their man is covering the near post. Ali's crosses are not getting in because they've got somebody who's covering it. So what do we do about that?
If that's what we want to do, then we have to put somebody near post. Gary Lineker, when he joined Barcelona, told the world afterwards that he was really frustrated that Johan Cruyff told him that he was going to be the near post merchant because he said, there's nothing there at the near post. The best you can do is get a hair's touch on the ball and it squeezes in.
I don't want to be the near post merchant. And Cruyff said, somebody has to be. Somebody has to be in front of their nearest man when the cross comes in. So that's something that perhaps Pompey will think about further down the road. Second half, however, it would be nice to be able to say that the team sat together with the manager and the coaching staff... And they came up with a plan.
They came up with a scheme. And they revitalised themselves. They worked out how to go for it. And they came out for the second half. And Norwich didn't know what hit them. And I'd like to believe that. But I don't think I do. Do you? I think, frankly, that Norwich clocked off. You know, that thing about being on the beach? I think they were on the beach. Just have a sip of Peroni, hang on. Mm.
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